OUT IN EAST BERLIN—Lesbians and Gays in the GDR Trailer Directed by Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt
Paragraph 175, which made homosexual behavior punishable by law, was abolished in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1968. At that time, homosexuality was considered a peripheral issue in the socialist GDR; the nuclear family constituted the center of social society. Out in East Berlin, tells the impressive-to-absurd personal histories of gay men and lesbians in GDR, until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The experiences of lesbians and gays, on the path to an out sexual identity, share one specific and sinister perspective: they are accompanied by the watchful eye of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi), which recorded their actions in the bedroom and in innumerable personal files. A fascinating, character-driven portrait of a nascent queer movement growing in a socialist society. For more info or to book the film, email nancy@fishmanfilm.com
